Objective:

To shed light on Wilhelm Uhthoff, a founder of clinical neuro-ophthalmology, and his discovery on the Uhthoff's phenomenon.  

Background:

The 19th century was the golden decade for the field of neuro-ophthalmology, with Prof Uthoff being one of the significant contributors of that era. In 1890, he described exercise-induced transient blurring of vision which was later named Uthoff’s phenomena in 1961 by G. Ricklefs. He also contributed to improving a better understanding of retinal connections to the cortex, ocular syphilis, ocular disturbances in intoxications, and ocular complications of brain tumors and gave an early description of Foster-Kennedy syndrome.
 

Design/Methods:

Literature review

Results:

Prof Uhthoff was born in a small town in Germany, Warin, in 1853. He completed his doctorate at Berlin in 1877 and started his academic work. Uhthoff was described by many of his colleagues as a keen observer, astute physician, and dedicated researcher. From 1890 to 1896, he was part of the ophthalmology faculty at the Universities of Marburg and Breslau. He succeeded Dr. Carl Freidrich Richard Foster, another well-known German physician ophthalmologist. Prof Uthoff retired in 1923 and passed away in March 1927 in Breslau, Germany.
 

Conclusions:

A literature review of the impact of the Uthoff phenomenon in the neurology field allows us to understand and reflect on the importance of endless curiosity and keen observation while evaluating our patients.